so i finished that etgar keret book, and two more of the narnia books, and now i've started "animal, vegetable, miracle" inspired by having seen the documentary "food, inc" earlier this afternoon. i love having a bookshelf of unread books so my reading choices can meander around organically like this.

yesterday we went snorkeling again, this time at la jolla shores, and saw at least 300 leopard sharks and guitarfish. it's a strange thing, floating in water only a few feet deep with sharks swimming freely under you, more than you can count, until you feel positively surrounded. and when the waves push you closer to them, even though you know they're harmless, your heart skips a beat. it's a thrill.

did you know you can get seasick snorkeling? i found out the hard way!
that said, i hope i can build up my sea tolerance so i can go on long swims in the ocean before summer's over. born & raised a midwesterner, salty water with living things in it bigger than i am still freaks me out.

hey there. sorry for the absence. i've been drowned in a mix of reading all those books i bought from that website i posted in my last post & conquering deadlines & working on collaborations & designing wedding invitation stuff which takes a surprisingly long and grueling amount of time! i've also been exercising a lot, whether it be playing dance dance revolution or snorkeling in the pacific ocean. we went on a family trip to big bear lake with my parents & siblings, kayaked on the lake and watched a lot of CNN as the frightening situation in Iran unfolds.

i'm reading "girl on the fridge" (short stories by etgar keret) right now.

books i read these past few weeks: the first 4 books of the chronicles of narnia series (planning on conquering them all before summer's end), "walden" by henry david thoreau, "the pearl" by john steinbeck", "the stranger" by camus, "devil in the details" by jennifer traig, "goodbye tsugumi" by banana yoshimoto, "anagrams" by lorrie moore, and lots of others. it's been a reading-heavy summer so far, which is the best kind in my opinion.

really excited about some paintings i've been working on & some really great collaborations i've had the opportunity to do lately.. summer is feeling good so far.

i just discovered this website and now i'm broke.

new podcast for you: please enjoy! It's songs I've been listening to these days as I work. So i titled it "These Days" (even though the awesome Nico song of the same name doesn't appear on it. Maybe next time...)

Click here if you have itunes; click here if you don't:
And here's an mp3 of the latest one if you wanna go old school and just right-click-save.

That studio i blogged about earlier this week didn't really work out. I took a tour, and the interior just didn't match the exterior in charm, the price was higher than advertised, no sinks in the studios, and the part that really bummed me out: it's not really a building for creatives as advertised -- almost all the suites were taken up by medical practices. What I originally envisioned being a lively artists studio is actually a 'quiet' and professional building, which is great if you're serving up acupuncture, but if you're trying to break out of the monotony of working at home & the loneliness of a lack of art community, it's just not what i was looking for. it makes me question whether i should be getting a studio at all, or if I will ever find something like what I'm looking for in San Diego.

anyway, in other news: this FRIDAY (wait, that's today): the Enormous Tiny Art show opens in LA at the Living Room (hosted by Nahcotta): here's a link to my work There is work from over 25 artists in the show.
3531 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

and, next Friday, June 13th, I'm in the group show at Art Star in Philadelphia, PA titled "Draw 4" (a show of drawings) it's my first show at Art Star!
623 N. 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19123

I'm honored to be shown by both galleries (Nahcotta [their first west coast show!] and Art Star) I think they both represent some of the best artists making work today, always seeking new energy + emerging artwork to show. I am proud to own work purchased from both galleries in the past, and really am humbled that they both asked me to show.

i have a studio in my home, and lately, it makes me feel very cooped up. walking around san diego, i happened upon this building with studio space for rent. it seemed like it was calling to me with its charley harper esque front door mural, so i made an appointment to go check out the interior later today.
hoping for the best!

do any of you have studio spaces in or out of your home? i'm finding that at home, sometimes i'm not able to focus or stay motivated & it has become quite frustrating. also, i love the idea of having a space where i do work not related to my shop or business. like, it could be my painting studio only. not my design studio - and definitely not my EMAIL studio. good god.

on a side note, if any creatives in san diego would like to potentially share a studio, email me! -- not sure if the offices here are big enough to share, but i like the idea of sharing.

it's my birthday tomorrow! all my plans involve spending time outdoors, so of course, it's suddenly raining in san diego (which is 99.9999% of the time beautiful and sunny) i need a contingency plan, but i swear, the only thing i ever think of when plans fall through is mini golf.
i haven't gone mini golfing in years, but it's all i can think of.

not much else to report. working, taking a lot of photos, added a TON of new t-shirts to the webshop, and reading "moby dick" for the first time which is surprisingly accessible and fantastic. i don't know why i suspected it would be written in impossible ye-olde-english code or something, but it's captivating, profound and at times quite funny.

anyhow, so that's what's up with me.
here's to my last day of being 28

a couple links to share today:

interview with me by pikaland amy: sneak peek my sketchbooks & thoughts.

good article on burnout causes & prevention

3 days left for the raffle (ends may 29)

I'll be in Shop Live on Etsy tomorrow (thurs, may 28th): 4pm PST, 7pm EST
it'll be fun!

we went to see the padres vs the cubs last night here in san diego. i was conflicted about who to root for as predicted. the friends we went with asked "what's with chicago's teams being bear-themed, are there bears in illinois?" and it's kind of bugging me that i don't know why. (no, there are no bears in illinois...that i know of)

i kind of want to challenge myself to make an artwork a day, preferably varying media as much as possible, but i feel like i would let myself down & eventually slack. sometimes i wish i could just not have email, so i could reclaim the hours i have to spend every day responding to it & do something creative FOR FUN (not for work) with my time instead. my sister is always suggesting that i allot 2 hours, say..2 days a week to respond, but that would never cover it all. i got 562 emails in the last week, over 18,000 in my inbox total. so much of my life feels wasted responding to emails saying things like 'please take me off your email list' and 'i'll get back to you on that'

i saw something on the news about how it's a new type of classifiable anxiety: fear of having too much email or something like that. email feels like someone is constantly tapping me on the shoulder asking me to please, please pay attention to them now right now please look now.

Superfun raffle time! (First time i've had one!) Orders from http://shop.boygirlparty.com placed now through Friday, May 29th will be entered in a raffle to win a $25 gift certificate. Winner will be notified by Sunday, May 31st (my birthday!)Other than that, I've just been working & trying to meet some deadlines.
I'm also reading Franny & Zooey again, which I hadn't read since high school.. Zooey's a bit of a jerk. Who calls their mother 'Fatty'? Jerk.

and I became a Goodreads Author today & claimed my published illustrated projects. It's kind of crazy to see them all lined up like that! Which reminds me, if anyone gets a chance to write a review of anything of mine you own - especially of any of my sadly un-reviewed Chronicle Books stationery - on Amazon or Goodreads, please do! I'd be so happy to see them reviewed!